Packed and ready

We finally got our train tickets today. We were unable to leave on the train we wanted that left today and arrived before the New Years Eve celebration. Instead, we will leave tomorrow (12/28), spend New Years Eve on the train, and arrive on New Years day. Here are the details for all the detail-orientated people like me.
- We leave Yaroslavl at 4.30 in the afternoon on the 28th and arrive in Moscow around 9.
- We will then need to take the subway from the train station we arrive at to the one for the train to Nayabrisk.
- We board the train to Nayabrisk, Siberia at a little after 10.30 PM on the 28th.
- We will then arrive in Nayabrisk at 6.00 am Moscow time, 9.00 am local time on 1/1.
-Since food is not served on the train we just finished going to the grocery store and packing food for the trip. (3 people for 7 meals---just like a picnic for 21)
-We will pass thru the Ural Mountains sometime on our journey-hopefully one day during out 5 hours of daylight.
-Half of the books that my sister Sonja mailed me in October arrived TODAY. I am so thrilled as I was running out of English books and needed some for this trip.
-We will be staying at Nadia's father's house. It is a one room (not one bedroom but one room as they have another house in the south for summers) apartment so I might need some reading material there also. This will be a real test for an introvert like me but I am excited about it. I just hope it stay above -30C so I can spend some time outside.
-We plan to spend some time at Nadia's father's and stepmother's school while we are there. She is the principle at an Orphanage and he teaches at a school for mentally delayed kids.
-Nayabrisk is an oil town and workers get extra money and benefits for agreeing to go there and work.I am so excited and will keep a journal and take many pictures.
-We start our trip back on the 8th, a day after the Russian Christmas.
HAPPY NEW YEAR

Yidbits from Yaroslavl

-Today is December 22, the first day of winter 2007/2008.
-Today is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. The sunrise in Yaroslavl today was 9.02 and the sunset is 15.35.
- The sunrise in Nayabrisk, Siberia (where we will be next week) today was 9.38 and the sunsets at 14.14 this afternoon.
- The sun came out yesterday for the first time in over 30 days. Now I understand why December is the most depressing month in Yaroslavl. Not much snow, long nights, mud and no sun.
- When the sun is out it never rises more than about 15 or 20 degrees in the southern sky. Even in the middle of summer, the sun is never overhead but always in the southern sky but it is even more pronounced in the winter. Make sense when you think about it.
- Our last group of volunteers for 2007 arrived today. Eight American women who decided to spend there Christmas this year volunteering in Yaroslavl. Very cool.
- Christmas in Russia is January 7 but New Years Eve and New Year’s Day seem to be bigger holidays. However, the January 1-9th is a holiday for everyone.
- Merry Christmas everyone

A fresh coat of paint

Winter is such a wonderful season, especially for me since I am more drawn to cold weather. And winters were it snows and the snow stays on the ground for months is so very different for me. It is almost like living in two different cities at the same time. Everything is so different and so much brighter with snow on the ground. And this is really medicine for the soul when you are only receiving 5 or 6 hours of daylight per day.
So after living all these years in the southern United States I have finally discovered winter. And luckily I have discovered it in the midst of a culture that embraces it's winters.
It is so funny how exciting the first few snows of the each year are to everyone. (or at least to me). And the world goes from being so dark and barren to suddenly being light and alive. And all the kids, old and young alike :), bring out their sleighs, skis and other winter toys. And the world seems so alive for several weeks. And then it goes a few weeks without snow, maybe even warms up a bit, and the streets are ugly with the brown dirty snow, and the sidewalks are slick from melted snow being refrozen, and it takes longer to get anywhere and the excitement wears off. And the dirty snow and slippery ice become part of the normal landscape, something to be navigated, planned around, ignored.
And then..............as if by magic..........you wake up as I did this morning...........to a fresh coat of paint.....and all you can do is smile and be happy for today all is good with the world.